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Kejiriwal redefines Indian Politics- Are people ready for that?

People in Delhi, the capital state of India, elected Aravnd Kejriwal as their
chief minister, for a second time; first time he resigned after a
spell in power when he couldn’t implement an ombudsman
against corrupt civil servants, his anti-corruption election promise. The second victory came at a
time when India's ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the right wing Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) that came to power in a landslide victory, last May, started imitating its predecessor, the Indian
National Congress led UDF in selling the nation to the rich and foreigners neglecting the common people (Am Admy). Aravind Kejariwal is standing for
those common people and its not accidental that his party is named after them, Am Admy Party (AAP). He
mauled his main opponent Kiran Bedi the BJP candidate, scoring 67 seats in Delhi's 70 seat state assembly.

It’s not only Delhi but India as a whole and the world are watching Kejarival’s victory with interest. International media hailed it and termed it a 'political earth quake'.

Delhi is not India
but it can impact on India in a big way, and how?

India became independent in 1947 from the oppressive colonial British rule. Since then its ruling changed hands from one self
serving political party to the other, all adopting same policies to deprive
its common people (Am Admy). No doubt India got a great Constitution; thanks to
Ambedkar who came from a so-called lower caste. A great majority of Indians are stigmatized in the name of caste, social and economic deprivations and they are
the descendents of India’s hardworking, skilled indigenous population.

And what makes Kejriwal different from the above
class of politicians is that he is not a chance leader. India’s once high profile
tax-officer chose politics as his career after gaining thorough knowledge into the fault-lines of Indian politics. He and his team traveled across the nation meeting with people and collecting information
about their lives and how the systems of democracy treat them. Those studies and findings
are published in his book ‘Swaraj’.

My impression after reading part of his book is:Mr.
Kejariwal is redefining democracy in India. If democracy is people’s power to
govern, he argues there is no
democracy in India at the present moment and in particular after 1991 since the
advent of globalism. In democracy people should be the real
rulers. Right now, they elect representatives to the state assemblies and
national parliament once in every five years and once the elected representatives deprive them of their rights, they cannot do anything to pull them back.

When a teacher or a
doctor abscond from work or do a disservice to them, they cannot bring them to books, they do not have the power to do that. And the teachers and the doctors are paid salaries using their tax money; even beggars do pay tax to
the government.

And true democracy happens when people have the real ruling power, he says.

People’s challenge

For decades Indian majority used to
corrupt undemocratic rulers have become corrupt themselves to the teeth. They are used to
nepotism, hierarchy, communalism and favoritism in the same measure as their rulers. If Kejriwal has to deliver true democracy then people need to change. They need to overcome the political vices and caste hierarchies which have been dehumanizing others for generations.

A good number of Indians are used to democracy as an end product. What Kejiriwal says is that it's a process and people should learn it and use it in the right manner. It's a big challenge to both himself and the people. It's promising however that the people in Delhi are willing to listen to him, that is what their overwhelming support means and I wish him and his people the best.

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